One day, Andy Card, an entrepreneur whose truck and pizza companies survived the Great Recession, drew the first draft for his design of a youth sports facility. His idea then was part of a competition in creating a business in youth sports.
His idea came from his experience of having to travel across the U.S for his sons’ sports games. Most of the time he found that the areas where the kids competed didn’t have air conditioning yet always still had people paying to compete there. After one particularly exhausting trip to Las Vegas, he said to himself, “This has got to be a business.”
There’s no denying that sports are popular among kids. Estimates suggest that around 60% of youth in the U.S play organized sports. Families across the nation spend over $30 billion every year on children to participate in sports. From 2010 to 2017, the youth sports industry grew by 55%, valuing it at $19 billion, more than the NFL and NBA.
As for Andy Card, when he came back home to Indiana from Las Vegas, he decided to sell both of his companies to raise money. After two years, he managed to raise $9 million and invested it in building an indoor basketball facility on the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana. The 400-acre complex— that boasts 26 baseball and softball diamonds, and 31 soccer, football, and lacrosse fields— is estimated to bring in 2.5 million people this year.
Unfortunately, competition rises with every facility created. The arms race among developers gets more intense as they try to capitalize on youth sports as an investment, convincing people to invest in facilities and affecting how communities and government leaders spend their tax money. Cassandra Coble, a youth sports researcher, talked about investing, “This movement toward privatization of youth sport is really only going to increase that disparity in youth sport. We’re seeing this recognition of the potential, but there is a definite dark side to that potential for communities investing in this.”
Card, who’s now planning to build and operate over a dozen youth sports complexes, talked about the difficulty of competition, “There’s competition everywhere. The barrier of entry to build these facilities now — like just starting, like any other new city would, it’s almost impossible. The whole business plan to have set up for these things to be sustainable — it’s very tricky. They don’t make money very quick. You just have to have the sustainability and power.”
Still, he’s happy about his decision. “Do you know how fun it is to come to work today in shorts … and be around all of these kids and just watch them have a blast? Dude, there’s no better business, I’m telling you.”
Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/29/youth-sports-business-facilities/
His idea came from his experience of having to travel across the U.S for his sons’ sports games. Most of the time he found that the areas where the kids competed didn’t have air conditioning yet always still had people paying to compete there. After one particularly exhausting trip to Las Vegas, he said to himself, “This has got to be a business.”
There’s no denying that sports are popular among kids. Estimates suggest that around 60% of youth in the U.S play organized sports. Families across the nation spend over $30 billion every year on children to participate in sports. From 2010 to 2017, the youth sports industry grew by 55%, valuing it at $19 billion, more than the NFL and NBA.
As for Andy Card, when he came back home to Indiana from Las Vegas, he decided to sell both of his companies to raise money. After two years, he managed to raise $9 million and invested it in building an indoor basketball facility on the Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana. The 400-acre complex— that boasts 26 baseball and softball diamonds, and 31 soccer, football, and lacrosse fields— is estimated to bring in 2.5 million people this year.
Unfortunately, competition rises with every facility created. The arms race among developers gets more intense as they try to capitalize on youth sports as an investment, convincing people to invest in facilities and affecting how communities and government leaders spend their tax money. Cassandra Coble, a youth sports researcher, talked about investing, “This movement toward privatization of youth sport is really only going to increase that disparity in youth sport. We’re seeing this recognition of the potential, but there is a definite dark side to that potential for communities investing in this.”
Card, who’s now planning to build and operate over a dozen youth sports complexes, talked about the difficulty of competition, “There’s competition everywhere. The barrier of entry to build these facilities now — like just starting, like any other new city would, it’s almost impossible. The whole business plan to have set up for these things to be sustainable — it’s very tricky. They don’t make money very quick. You just have to have the sustainability and power.”
Still, he’s happy about his decision. “Do you know how fun it is to come to work today in shorts … and be around all of these kids and just watch them have a blast? Dude, there’s no better business, I’m telling you.”
Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/29/youth-sports-business-facilities/